Bangalore Christ University Spring 2011
'A Little Bit About Me' Hey everyone, my name is Anthony and I was a third year at Poly when I went on the USAC spring semester program (Jan - Jun) to Christ University in Bangalore. I've always enjoyed traveling and been to Far East Asia and Western Europe prior to this. I was looking for a major change of pace and India definitely fit the bill. ---- 'Packing' I packed pretty light for this trip, mainly because I planned to travel afterwards. So I managed to fit all my things in a 65 liter backpack and a large suitcase which I later left behind. Really depends on your person. Here's some essentials: *''Toiletries'' (Floss is extremely hard to find so bring plenty) *''Power Converter'' (You can buy one there but it costs as much or more. 240V 50Hz) *''Clothes'' - Southern India is very conservative when it comes to dress. Men wear slacks or jeans. Shorts don't really fly here though being a foreigner you might get away, but let's try not to offend. At the campus, business casual is the dress code. I bought all my dress clothes in Bangalore (I paid about $7/shirt and you can get clothes tailored very cheap) For women, you can either go business casual, traditional sari, or other interesting traditional clothes. Definitely more fun than the guys. I would recommend bringing just enough clothes to get through a week because clothes are so much cheaper in India relative to the states. *''Phone'' - India uses GSM, so if you have a GSM phone you're good to go. And if you do not have a phone you can buy a very basic Nokia for $17. I would recommend buying the phone in India, it gets the job done and less worry of losing a nice phone. Once you have a phone just go to any phone/electronics store to get a SIM card. Vodafone and Airtel get the best coverage (the AT&T/Verizon of India). You can get a prepaid talk/text plan for less than $10 starting, once you use it up just go back to the store and ask for a recharge, local minutes here are dirt cheap. *''Money'' - Bring some US dollars with you, it always comes in handy $100 - $200 will more than suffice. And if you don't have a debit card, get one! Do not exchange your cash unless you absolutely must. Dollars are valuable here and atms will give you a really good exchange rate so get your rupees from the atm. *Carrying Bag/Small Backpack - Always good to have something light when walking round town. *Medicine - You'll find that there are plenty of generic over the counter prescription strength medication available at easy to find pharmacies in case you do happen to get very sick, so bring minimal necessary medicine. I didn't happen to get sick much, but others in my group got food posioning quite a bit so a jar of anything for the stomach could come in handy. ---- 'The Flight' Brace yourself. Yes it is a 24 plus hour flight from California no matter which way you fly! ---- 'Arrival' Ah the airport, a bustling, crowded, hectic space and your first taste of India. But really it's not so bad. Once off the plane you're directed to immigration, which is a really quick and smooth process, assuming you brought all the right paperwork. And so it begins. Group Flight Arrival - If you arrived on the group flight you'll be able to meet up with your fellow study abroad students at immigration if you haven't already, just watch out for the lost looking group of foreigners :) There will be a representative outside the airport with a bus from Christ University to pick everyone up and take them to the apartment complex/school. Solo Arrival - I flew in on the group flight, but there were a couple of people who couldn't catch that flight. Some ended up catching a taxi to the school later on. Others arranged with Christ University to be picked up when they arrived. ---- 'Moving In' There are a few options for housing which you will have already chosen prior to arriving. There is NGV (national games village) apartments, on campus residence (girls only), and your own apartment. I stayed at NGV but also crashed at a friend's, who chose to get his own apartment. So I can speak about both from experience. I do not know of anyone who stayed on campus so I'll just mention briefly what I know. *'NGV' - By far the easiest and most popular option, NGV is a gated apartment complex that was originally built for athletes during the hosting of the Indian National Games some years back. It is now rented out to regular families and individuals. The apartments are located about 20-30 minutes walking distance from the school. The neighborhood is not very glamorous but it is very safe with lots of families and children around. And it is conveniently close to school with lots of restaurants and grocery stores near by. You are most likely going to share a room, depending on the number of students and rooms available. My apartment had five people including myself, all exchange students at Christ University, and we managed to get along great. Place comes with a washer, no dryer but there is an attached balcony to hang clothes. There is also internet, though you will need to buy a router for wireless. Hot water? Depends. Only one of our bathrooms had hot water and you can only use it for so long. They don't have central heating there, instead there is a small water heater that provides 10 minutes worth of hot water before it needs to recover. There is also a kitchen with a gas stove if you like to cook. Again it is not the most glamorous of places, but it does give you a good taste of India! *'Private Apartment' - This is a tricky option with its pros and cons. My friend had a cousin who was living in Bangalore and arranged a place for him in a nice central area. So the pros. You can pick and choose your location. Rent is comparable to NGV option. Can definitely find nice setups. More privacy, quieter. Now the cons. It takes more work to find your own (nice) place in India, and it can be quite difficult if you don't know people. There are a lot more available bad places than nice ones. But probably the most important is that you don't get to hang out with the USAC gang as much if you were on your own. *'On Campus Residence' - FYI This is for women only! Basically you live on campus like the dorms at Poly however I got the impression it was more strict. There is an RA just like the dorms and there is also a curfew that you have to be back in the dorms by a certain time, and from what I recall it was not very late. You do get the benefit of being closer with the native Indian students though which is pretty awesome. ---- 'And So It Begins' Week 1 The first week feels really hectic and fast paced. Classes don't start so you have the week to adjust and get things in order. On day 1 Jacob, our program coordinator, set us up with a local student buddy to get us acquanted with the area. They are really nice and know their stuff so they showed us around for an afternoon. What you do really depends on your buddy, but just let them lead you around a normal day and I guarantee you'll have a good time. The next few days Jacob shows us around campus and also a short tour of town. He should point out the bus routes and walks to school along with the worthwile tourist sites. Jacob's a funny easy going guy who's been living in Bangalore most his life. Be sure to have Jacob's number on hand in case you ever run into trouble or just have some questions. After day two, you are on your own. The rest of the week is yours to do whatever. My roommates and I wandered around the neighborhod together a lot this week, plenty of good places to explore and get to know each other. One thing you'll find very exciting is learning to cross traffic in India. Also it's a good opportunity to get your phones and sim cards. Another thing worth mentioning is the police registration office. Anyone who is living in India must register with the local police department who will issue you a residence certificate. While Jacob and Ms. Florence (the admin superwoman) will handle all the intricate paperwork involved everyone still has to go to the police station to register in person. We ended up breaking into two groups on two seperate days. The ordeal literally lasts an entire day because of the long queue. If you intend to stay in India after the end of your study program be sure to ask Ms. Florence about an extension. Ms. Florence is much more involved in this process and knows the loop holes to get the extension. She may have to pay a 'fee' to the officials which will probably cost you around $20 for the extension but it's well worth it. Classes Start (Just a note, I was taking classes on the USAC calendar versus the regular Christ University calendar because the Christ University academic semester had already begun. The difference is you will be attending classes with local students on the Christ University calendar versus study abroad students on USAC.) The classes are definitely different than Cal Poly. USAC courses are geared toward international students who are new to India and so the emphasis is on cultural exposure and enrichment. The classes had a much lighter work load comparatively to Cal Poly classes and most professors were very accomodating to our schedules. They realize that we are here to immerse in the environment and the best way is going out, exploring and socializing with the locals as much as possible. Now with that said these classes are all taught by regular Indian professors from the University whose style of teaching is very different. I also ended up going on a few class field study trips to see some urban projects. Overall the classes were very manageable and mostly enjoyable. And if you are truly interested in taking regular Christ University classes, Jacob let us work out a schedule that we could audit regular courses. He can actually get you into upper division classes, across most majors. Running Around Town Jacob and your Indian buddy will give you a good intro to Bangalore, but there's still a lot more to see! The first and second week were pretty good adjustment periods. Take the chance to walk to and from class and check out the side alleys along the way. Just be mindful, the vibrantly decorated walls and doors be someone's house and the corn on the street may belong to someone. Also there's a few places not within walking distance worth checking out. Any local markets are worth checking out, I ended up stumbling into them unintentionally and they turned out better than the site I was looking for. And when I say local market I mean like a veggie market or a random bazaar. They are always bound to be lively and full of unusual items worth checking out. Some of them are more well known than others like the pet market, worth asking Jacob or your buddy about. A few spots you're bound to see are commercial street, MG road, and brigade road (sometimes pronounced brigett). Commercial street is mostly souveneir shops, clothing stores, and food all bunched together in an area of a few blocks. The majority of the stores sell souveneirs and it definitely has bazaar vibe. To get there either take the bus (ask Jacob) or grab a rickshaw. Rickshaw should cost round 70 rupees one way from Christ College. MG road and Brigade road are connected. They're more western style and busy nonetheless. I personally thought MG/Brigade weren't much to see, but if you want a western feel and a few overpriced drinks that's the place to go. First Weekend Trip Once your settled in and ready for a different glimpse of India you'll definitely want to get out of Bangalore, albeit just for a weekend. There's a lot of options that can be done in a weekends time. Trying nearby there is Mysore and Nandi Hills. Going further out there's Shravana Belgola, Belur, and Halebidu for your historical sites. Mangalore and Goa have really nice beaches. And go to Hampi where you'll find lots of rock climbing, scrambling, and motorcycles. There's a few ways to get around including train, bus, and private car. ---- 'How's the Weather' Depending on when you go the temperature will range from very nice to very hot. January through April is a good time with 70F being normal throughout the day and slightly cooler in the night. It starts to heat up a bit going into April reaching the 80's. Then it really intensifies towards June and July going into 90's before it tapers off. Also humidity is a big factor, and it is always humid in the south. If you've ever been to Florida or something similar that's what you'll get. I found that I never needed anything more than a sweater unless your riding in a Rick shaw on a cool night or early morning. Another thing you might get to experience is the monsoon season when the rains really come down. The monsoon had arrived later than usual when I was there and I was already out of Bangalore by the time it really set in. But I did experience some heavy downpours heading into the monsoon. And you will get drenched, so a rainjacket could come in handy. Though umbrellas are pretty cheap there too. Also the streets tend to flood a bit during those downpours. ---- 'Food' ---- 'Getting Around?' ---- 'Don't Feel too Well' ---- Category:Program Category:India